Maigo- A BNHA OC Story

Bandages

   Hushed voices hang around her ears. All air has been sucked out of the room for what feels like hours. The beep and whir of the machines closes in on her, pressing into her eardrums and curling around inside of her skull, crawling towards the front part of her forehead, making her dizzy, lightheaded, sick. It is too bright, too loud, too much. Her fingers brush against their rough surface, their tightness as they squeeze like a vice. Her heart pounds in her ears and down through her limbs.

   This is where people go to die.

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   "Hey, Midnight?" The blond calls out from his desk in the staff room. "Where's Sho, shouldn't he be back by now, it's math period."

   "Hm?" The raven-haired woman does not look up from the papers in front of her, pen poised at their surface as she scans a student's answers. "Oh, his class is going on a field trip today, don't you remember?"

   Maigo pokes her head out from under Shota's desk. She peers around the room, not understanding the situation. A field trip?

   The skeleton man shifts uneasily on the couch a few meters away. He has a phone pressed up to his ear, buried in his mess of dry, straw-colored hair. Maigo walks close enough to him that she can just make out what he is saying.

   "...Hopefully I can catch the tail end of this thing," he mumbles before hanging up.

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   There is a hand on her shoulder. She doesn't know how long it's been there. She can hear a buzzing sound somewhere far off.

   "Maigo. Maigo. Hey, come on. Maigo."

   She can't move.

   This is where people are taken away.

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   The door is thrust open with a loud bang. The skeleton man fills the entrance way, his body now blown up to five times its normal size. He is gasping, mouth twisted into a grimace, eyes too small to glean any sort of emotion from.

   "Emergency... USJ... kids in trouble..." he gasps out.

   "What?" Hizashi is on his feet, already halfway out the door.

   "Villains..." the skeleton man grunts before dashing off.

   The raven-haired woman scoops up Maigo and places her back under Shota's desk. "You wait right here until we get back, okay?"  Maigo nods.

   They all leave. Maigo waits. She picks up her calculus book, head swimming in a sea of equations. She lays her head down and takes a nap.

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   "Thirteen will be fine, they can be sent home for rest tomorrow."

   "What about Eraserhead?"

   Silence.

   She knows better.

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   Maigo feels herself being lifted off the floor, out from under the desk, up into someone's arms. They are skinny and lanky, not like Shota's. She can hear the low squeak of leather.

   "Hey, kiddo, it's okay. It's okay, we're just going home."

   She opens her eyes to see Uncle 'Zashi staring down at her. His cheeks and eyes are red, eyelids puffy. She squirms in his arms, craning her neck to look for Shota. Hizashi presses her head into his chest and walks out the door. The building is dark and quiet.

   "It's okay, it's okay," he whispers. "We're just going home."

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   "She can't stay here."

   "Calm down, Nemuri, they're not gonna kick her out."

   "Oh really? And what makes you so sure of that?"

   "She's his daughter, they can't kick her out."

   "He hasn't signed any papers, he hasn't met with any social workers. No one knows this child exists except us."

   "I got him papers, I even dated them and everything. I waved a social worker visit for him. There is no way he hasn't signed them, I basically did everything else."

   "Either way, she can't stay here," Midnight snaps.

   "And why's that?" Hizashi retorts.

   "Why's tha- Hizashi look at her!!!" Midnight waves her hands in Maigo's direction. The girl is still sitting on the edge of Shota's hospital bed, where she's been since they all arrived. Her eyes are wide and glassy. Her mouth is slack jawed, hanging open slightly. Her cheeks have no color. Although she sits up straight, her head falls forward, like a weight on the end of a rope. Her two stuffed animals hang limply in her hands, as if they are forgotten.

   Hizashi swallows. "So what should we do?"

   "I don't know," Midnight's voice is raw, and when Hizashi looks up he sees her eyes are red.

   "Well," the blond's throat is dry. "We can't leave her here alone. And it might not be a good idea to take her back to Shota's apartment. I think," he takes a deep breath, "I think she should stay with one of us for the time being."

   Nemuri nods, eyes unfocused and glued to the floor. She slumped further into her seat. "I have an extra bed and a free schedule for all of next week. I can take her."

   "And that gives me enough time to clear my schedule for the following week," Hizashi muses, leaning further against the wall.

   The two of them instinctively look back toward the hospital bed, where their friend lies covered in bandages, wrapped up like a mummy. They watch the heart monitor beep... beep... beeping as the green line dances. Neither of them speak again for a few hours.